A mariner, taking a boozer round, goes on foot (5)
I believe the answer is:
sabot
'on foot' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'a mariner taking a boozer round' is the wordplay.
'a mariner' becomes 'AB' (short for able seaman).
'taking a boozer' becomes 'sot' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'round' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'ab' going into 'sot' is 'SABOT'.
'goes' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sabot that I've seen before include "Carved shoe -- boats (anag)" , "Boast about wooden shoe" , "sole support?" , "French clog" , "This from last" .)